Urban Population

Guyana remained a primarily rural country in 1991. The only
significant urban area, the capital city of Georgetown, was home to more
than 80 percent of the urban population. The smaller towns served
primarily as regional distribution centers. Georgetown had an estimated
population of 195,000 in 1985 and an annual growth rate of 6.6 percent.
Linden, the country's second largest town with a population of 30,000,
was a bauxite mining complex on the Demerara River. The port of New
Amsterdam in eastern Guyana had a population of about 20,000.

The proportion of the population living in urban areas increased only
slightly between 1960, when it was 29 percent, and 1980, when it was
30.5 percent. By 1985, 32.2 percent of the population was living in
urban areas.